US to tap Vietnam’s nuclear power market under new pact — 05/07/2014

For Your Information (FYI):“The United States and Vietnam Tuesday signed a deal on civilian nuclear energy that will allow the US to transfer technology and sell its reactors to the Southeast Asian nation.

The so-called “123 agreement” was signed by US ambassador to Vietnam David Shear and Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan in Hanoi, under the authorization of President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

“This agreement will create opportunities for Vietnam to access the US modern technology in the nuclear power field, as well as pave the way for US companies to invest in Vietnamese market,” said Nguyen Quan.

Meanwhile, David Shear said the pact would build a solid foundation for the cooperation between Vietnam and the US in the civil nuclear sector.

Vietnam is pursuing nuclear energy in order to deal with its present shortage of energy. The country hopes nuclear power to provide more than 10 percent of its total power generation needs by 2030.”

However, the world is still reeling from the Fukushima nuclear energy disaster in Japan, and we may want to remember that “one ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and that “homeless” people will not always be available to be recruited by “Yakuzas” to do the dirty work of others……“To fully decommission Fukushima Daiichi might take 40 years and no one expects a cakewalk. Independent researchers point to the litany of mishaps that has blighted the cleanup. They doubt the plant’s operator Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) is up to the task, and want a global team of experts to take over. “